As a result of the court hearing Thursday, Judge Eileen Rakower set a hearing date in February to consider a preliminary injunction to prevent the charity from closing the Greenwich Village school program before June 2013.

The organization, which has run early-education, nursery and art programs in the neighborhood at its Philip Coltoff Center since 1892, said it cannot comment on ongoing litigation. In an announcement on Thursday, the board of trustees said they voted unanimously to pursue the sale of the three buildings and keep its early education and nursery programs open until 2012, either at the center or “another reasonable location.”

Selling the buildings will allow the group to focus its resources on low-income communities in the South Bronx, Washington Heights, Harlem and East Harlem, said Richard Buery, the organization’s president and CEO.

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